West 'losing sympathy' for Israel, warns Britain

West 'losing sympathy' for Israel, warns Britain

Philip Hammond, the new Foreign Secretary, was to tell Benjamin Netanyahu that the West is becoming less sympathetic to Israel's cause, it has been reported.
Hammond has called for an urgent ceasefire to end the conflict in Gaza, where the death toll on both sides has now risen to 775.
Last night he met with the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, and promised to push for a “stable solution” in the region that would allow Israelis and Palestinians to “live in peace together”.
But at the same time he has rejected comments from the UN's top human rights official that Israel may have committed war crimes over the course of the air, sea and ground offensive that began on 8 July.
Speaking yesterday in a joint press conference in Jerusalem alongside the Israeli Prime Minister, Hammond warned that Britain was “gravely concerned” by the number of civilian casualties suffered in Gaza over the course of the past two and a half weeks, Sky News reported.
It followed comments he made to the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, when he urged Israel to act “in a way that is proportionate” and do all it can to “prevent unnecessary loss of civilian life”.
He has now joined the diplomatic effort on the ground in the Middle East, telling reporters he came “to bring this conflict to an end”, and put his support behind an Egyptian ceasefire proposal that would see an immediate end to fighting followed by discussions on the terms of a longer-term peace deal.

Copyright:

Any unauthorized use or reproduction of The Daily Star content for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited and constitutes copyright infringement liable to legal action.